In Brief

Facebook Sees Everything You Do

Remember that Coke “security camera” Super Bowl commercial this year, whose premise was “Your every move is being watched, but look! Hugging!”? That, coupled with the latest news that Facebook tracks where users go on the internet even after they’ve logged off the site, for “security reasons,” is enough to make us develop more than a few fantasies about being stranded on a wireless signal and WiFi-less island, Robinson Crusoe style.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Facebook on Monday defended its practice of gathering data from “Like” buttons even after users have logged out, saying that the collection is part of a system to prevent improper logins and that the information is quickly deleted not all of the data is logged….

Here’s how the Facebook data collection works: When you log in to Facebook or visit Facebook.com without logging in, the site places small files called “cookies” on your computer. Some of these cookies remain on your computer even after you log out, and then whenever you visit a site that connects to Facebook – such as those with a “Like” button – information from those cookies is sent back to Facebook, providing a record of where you’ve been on the Web.

Um, that is terrifying. And this comes after Facebook, facing another wave of criticism, stopped gathering on users who have never visited Facebook.com at all.

Naturally, since we are a site that uses “Like” buttons, Facebook can probably see this post right now. This is like a horror movie. The Facebooks are coming from inside the Facebook!

[Photo via Someecards]

[Via The Daily Caller]

TAGS: facebook | privacy

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